This invention relates to an electric motor control system technique particularly for controlling the speed and the steering of the vehicle, and a compatible battery charging method for electrically powered mobile vehicles.
Electric powered vehicles of various types have been known for years and chronologically may predate the internal-combustion engine. Electric vehicles for general use have been criticized because of their comparative limited range of travel before the power source must be rejuvenated. Internal-combustion engines are presently in disfavor due to pollution problems, and solutions which seem most likely of adoption require adding more hardware to an already overly complex power plant. In projecting continued use of internal-combustion engines into the future, analysts calculate that an engine will require a minimum of 375 horsepower under the hood in order to be usable on the envisioned automated highways of tomorrow, and that all special controls will comprise units that are added to the basic requirements. Thus, the outlook on this basis suggests that with internal-combustion engines, private vehicles of the future will take a form of relatively large complicated machines having high energy consumption.
Present approaches which promote the use of electric power sources merely modify an existing vehicle to accommodate electric components and have suggested very little towards improving the longevity of the electric power source. It has occurred to the inventor that electric vehicles should be developed from scratch which accommodate an acceptable electric drive system as the basic premise, and not be the results of aborting existing design. Also, important consideration must be given to the power source.
With these thoughts in mind, the inventor is disclosing herein a new electro-mechanical control system technique and a new battery-charging technique for electric power driven vehicles. These techniques take into consideration the proposed electronic approaches for the automated highways of the future so that eventual campatibility can be achieved at a minimum of add-on design requirements.